Comment: Legal & General's pay hiccup is an easy slip to make

Red faces all round at Legal & General, the insurer that talks tough when it comes to all things corporate governance.

L&G had to admit today its boss Nigel Wilson was actually paid £5.5 million last year, not the £4.7 million it previously reported.

Apparently, they forgot to include a bump-up in his long term incentive plan from 2012. Whoops.

That the mistake got past the pay consultants, the auditors, the remuneration committee and countless HR and finance types seems remarkable. But is it?

The truth is, boardroom pay has become so complicated — largely because of all those consultants and HR types — that barely anyone understands it. More surprising is that such screw-ups don’t happen more often.